John W. Houghtaling II

John W. Houghtaling II
Born New Orleans, Louisiana,
United States
Alma mater Emory University
Loyola University
Occupation Attorney

John Houghtaling is an attorney, entrepreneur, oil and gas executive, TV personality, actor, and amateur racing driver. In 2014, Houghtaling appeared on an episode of Inside Man with Morgan Spurlock. He is currently the CEO of an oil and gas export company, American Ethane and is managing partner of the law firm of Gauthier, Houghtaling.

Legal career

John W. Houghtaling II, the managing partner and majority owner of Gauthier, Houghtaling LLP, a law firm with a 42 year old legacy that paved the way to the $358 billion dollar U.S. tobacco settlement in 1998, and won settlements and verdicts in an additional $4 bn.[1][2]

Houghtaling practices in two main fields:

  1. property insurance
  2. project development strategy and enforcement in the oil, gas, and energy sectors.

In 2005, Houghtaling served as special counsel to the Attorney General of Louisiana in the litigation of policyholder rights in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His firm secured hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance funds to rebuild thousands of properties in several states.

He is the only attorney in Louisiana who has ranked as one of CityBusiness Magazine’s top 50 lawyers in New Orleans for five consecutive years. He was named Louisiana SuperLawyer from 2010 through 2014.[3]

Houghtaling collected hundreds of millions of dollars for hurricane victims in Katrina, Ike, Gustave and Sandy. In 2014, Houghtaling was appointed plaintiffs liaison counsel by the United States Federal Court for the Eastern District. He uncovered fraud within the FEMA Flood Insurance program. He represented over a thousand property owners in New York and New Jersey; the legal victories of his team led FEMA to admit that third parties committed fraud to underpay storm victims. FEMA then reopened the program for over 144,000 storm victims.[4]

Oil & Gas, Entergy Business

The majority of Houghtaling’s career has focused on the energy sector. From 1998-2004 he was involved in the development of the 144MW Nejapa Power plant, the first IPP power plant in El Salvador.

In 2010, Houghtaling became the CEO of Ocean Therapy Solutions, an oil service company he founded with business partner, Kevin Costner. In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, BP contracted with Houghtaling and Costner's company to deployed 32 centrifuge devises on vessels designed by Edison Chouset Offshore.[5][6]

With Costner, Houghtaling co-founded Ocean Management Group, a partnership between Ocean Therapy Solutions and Edison Chouest Offshore.

In 2010, Houghtaling briefly returned to his managing partner position at GHW to serve as legal counsel for British Petroleum in the aftermath of the Horizon oil spill disaster in negotiations between BP and the State of Louisiana.

In 2011, Houghtaling became the U.S. managing partner of AmshaleEnergy, LLC, an investment holding company. With his Amshale Energy partners, he holds ownership in Pesto Investment Group, Inc., a 200,000 acre oil and gas production play in the Pearsall of South Texas.[7]

In 2013, he successfully negotiated a deal between Pilot Flying J ,a privately held fuel retailer in the US and Western Express,.[8][9]

In 2013 he co-founded and became CEO of American Ethane, a project to build the world's largest Ethane Export Terminal. Houghtaling and his partners are negotiating off-take agreements with to supply 10 million tons of fuel a year to international power plants.[7]

He graduated with honors from Emory University (B.A.) and Loyola School of Law, (J.D), where he was a member of the Loyola Law Review.[2]

Personal life

In 2012, Houghtaling married Russian pop star and model Julia Timonina. They live together in New Orleans with their daughter Alisia.[10]

Media

Houghtaling's success and career in the legal and oil and gas field was featured in an hour long documentary in the Inside Man series hosted by Morgan Spurlock. (Income Inequality and the American Dream. Aired Sunday, June 1 at 10 PM EST/PST on CNN.) [11]

As an actor he played the character of New Orleans lawyer Jack Coburn in Beyond Deceit alongside Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins and he had a brief appearance as the character Harris Sargent alongside Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta Jones and Mark Walberg in Broken City.[12]

Houghtaling has been a legal commenter for a number of media outlets. His legal cases and projects have appeared in the NYT, Wall Street Journal, London Times, ABC, NBC, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.[11][12][13]

He has appeared on the covers of New Orleans Magazine, St. Charles Magazine and City Business Magazine.[1][2][14]

Historic Properties

Houghtaling is the owner of the historic Brown Mansion on St. Charles Avenue a 22,000 square foot Mansion built at the turn of the century by the Cotton King of New Orleans, W.P. Brown.[15]

While utilized as his main residence, Houghtaling donates the use of his home to several local and national charities.[16]

His home has also been featured in a number of Hollywood films and TV shows. Barefoot, Broken City, Beyond Deceit, LBJ, Selfless, Get Hard, Common Law, HBO, Hide, Occult, Reckless, American Ultra, True Detective, and Scream Queens.

In 2003 Houghtaling purchased the notable Chatham House in Seaside Florida.[17][18]

CCR French Quarter Classic

Houghtaling is an exotic car collector and amateur racing car driver. His former exotic car collection has been featured on the Discovery Channel, CNBC and various magazines as one of the ten best Celebrity car collections. In 1998 he co-founded the Louisiana Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America and founded the Ferrari French Quarter Classic, an event which was hailed in the press as the "ultimate Ferrari Party." He is also the founder and owner of the FORZA Challenge Car Racing Series, the largest Ferrari Privateer racing organization in the world. Since 2009 the organization has hosted over 53 Ferrari Challenge races, and been support races for IMSA, Grand Am, and such races as the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2010 the organization broke a record for having 42 Ferrari Challenge cars on the grid in a single race. Houghtaling is an active racing driver in the series having won several races and finishing 3rd in the Ferrari 430 championship in 2011 and 2012.[19][20]

Civic and Charitable Foundations

Houghtaling served as chairman of over 60 charitable and civic fundraising campaigns in Louisiana and Houston. He is president and co-founder of the Harris County Sheriff's Office Foundation. He hosted two charity events called "the dinner of the decade" in New Orleans and Houston with friends and celebrity chefs, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boloud, and Jerome Bocuse.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 2/28/05, CityBusiness Magazine, Cover: “Famed N.O. Practice Ruled by New Lawyer”
  2. 1 2 3 12/2009, New Orleans Living Magazine, Cover: “John Houghtaling is Making His Mark”
  3. ↑ 2005, CityBusiness Magazine, “Leadership in Law, Top 50 Lawyers”
  4. ↑ 11/29/2012 - Village Tattler, “John Houghtaling Speaks at Hurricane Sandy Recovery Night”
  5. ↑ 5/14/2010, WWL Eyewitness Morning News at 6 AM; WGNO ABC 26 News at 6:30 PM re: Oil Spill Clean up Machine
  6. ↑ 5/18/2010, WDSU New Channel 6 at 10pm; WVUE Fox 8 at 9pm; and WGNO ABC 26 News at 10pm, re: Ocean Therapy Solutions
  7. 1 2 http://www.AmericanEthane.com
  8. ↑ 9/12/2013, The Wall Street Journal, “Pilot Flying J Faces New Hurdle”
  9. ↑ 9/14/2013, m.knoxnews.com, “Pilot Flying J Case Draws Legal Firepower”, http://m.knoxnews.com/news/2013/sep/14/pilotbios15/
  10. ↑ Yuliya Timonina at the Internet Movie Database
  11. 1 2 http://www.cnn.com/videos/bestoftv/2014/05/30/morgan-spurlock-inside-man-income-1.cnn
  12. 1 2 Biography for John W. Houghtaling at the Internet Movie Database
  13. ↑ 8/21/06, WWL News re: Katrina Insurance Lawsuits
  14. ↑ 1/8/07, CityBusiness Magazine, Cover: “High Stakes: Horseshoe Casino Lawsuit Could Nullify 1.5B Purchase by Harrah’s”
  15. ↑ 2/12/14; WVUE.com. “High Dollar Homes: A St. Charles Avenue Gem.” http://www.wsmv.com/story/24647556/high-dollar-homes-a-st-charles-avenue-gem
  16. ↑ 3/15/2011, Nola.com, “Six to be honored by Louisiana Center for Women and Government”
  17. ↑ March/April 2010, The Thirty A Review, “Leo Casas, AIA, NCARB, Braulio Casas Architects, PA”
  18. ↑ (1989) Architectural Record Houses. A McGraw-Hill Publication.
  19. ↑ 5/2001, FORZA Magazine, feature article: “MadewoodConcorso”
  20. ↑ 10/2015, FORZA Magazine, #145 “Forza Tifosi Challenge: Examining the Cars”
  21. ↑ 11/2010, Houston Magazine, BIRDS fundraiser
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